What is the sheepfold?
THE SHEEPFOLD REPRESENTS THE NATION OF ISRAEL.
The ancient sheepfold of that day still exists today in many of the towns in that land. It was a public sheepfold. In the evenings the shepherds from the different towns would bring their flocks to the sheepfold. They would entrust their flocks to the porter of the sheepfold for the night then they would go home for the night.
John 10:1-2 "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep."
Who is the Shepherd?
THE SHEPHERD IS THE LORD JESUS CHRIST.
The Lord Jesus told them that He has entered through the door of the sheepfold.
He also told them that anyone who does not come in by the door is a thief and a robber.
He proclaimed that He came in fulfillment of prophecy.
He came in by the Law.
Galatians 4:4 "But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the Law." Mary was a Jewish woman.
The Lord Jesus was a Jew, remember when He met the Samaritan woman at the well and she asked Him why He, who was a Jew, would ask her, a woman of Samaria, for a drink of water?
The Lord Jesus was a Jew and although He had perfect humanity, He was God manifest in the flesh. God of very God.
God had a purpose in sending the Lord Jesus to this earth.
He wanted to redeem those who were under the Law and He wanted to place them in the family of God as a full grown sons, capable of understanding divine truth.
This means that the Holy Spirit has to interpret the Word of God to us.
If we want to know anything concerning the Lord Jesus Christ then the Holy Spirit alone is able to reveal Him to us.
It does not matter whether we are a mature saint or a new born baby in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Spirit of God will have to teach us all about Him.
He came in the line of David just as it had been foretold that He would be born of a virgin and they would call His name Immanuel, because He would save His people from their sins.
Isaiah 7:14 "Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel."
The sheepfold is the nation Israel.
The good Shepherd, is the Lord Jesus.
John 10:3 "To Him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear His voice, and He calleth His own sheep by name, and leadeth them out."
Who does the porter represent?
THE PORTER REPRESENTS THE HOLY SPIRIT.
The Holy Spirit came upon Jesus, and everything that He did, He did
by the power of the Spirit of God.
The Holy Spirit is the One who opens the ears of His sheep so that they can hear His voice.
The Lord Jesus calls His own sheep by name and He leads them out of the sheepfold.
He called Simon and changed his name to Peter.
He also called John, James, Philip, Nathanael and He even stopped under a tree one day and called a man named Zacchaeus.
THE LORD JESUS CALLS HIS SHEEP BY NAME.
In the morning, when the shepherds arrive to collect their sheep, the flocks are all mixed up. The porter opens the door for the shepherds and they call their sheep by name.
The sheep follow their shepherd because they know His voice.
Today, when the Word of God goes out, there are those who hear the call of the Lord Jesus.
The porter, who is the Holy Spirit, will open the Door so that the sheep can come out and follow the Lord Jesus and He will lead them out, out of Judaism, out of legalism, out of ritualism and out of any other ...ism's, EVEN OUT OF A CHURCH WHERE THEY ARE NOT BEING FED.
You see, today, God is calling out a people to His name and He intends to prepare those people as a bride that He will one day present to Himself.
Those who follow Him, He leads besides still waters, and He makes them to lie down in green pastures. He knows each one by name.
If I may say, at this point I believe, that when the Lord Jesus calls His own out of this world at the Rapture, His call will have every believer’s name in it.
I think I will hear Him say personally, "Caryl."
That will be wonderful!
He knows my name.
He can call me at any time.
And He’ll call you if you are one of His sheep.
You will hear your name in His shout!
God is so good, so very good!
Have you perhaps thanked Him for all His goodness shown towards you today?
John 10:5 "And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers."
The true sheep are those who are eager to hear the Word of God and obey it.
The Lord Jesus Christ is Himself the Door.
How can He be the Door and the Shepherd at the same time?
He is the Door that opens the way to eternal life and He is the Good Shepherd that protects the sheep here on this earth.
The Lord Jesus is also the Lamb of God.
How can He be a Lamb as well?
He came down to this earth and He identified Himself with us, those who are His sheep and this fact emphasizes His humanity.
Isaiah 53:1-12 "Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.
He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.
Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth: He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth.
He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare His generation? for He was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was He stricken.
And he made His grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death; because He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth.
Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief: when Thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand.
1He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied: by His knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong; because He hath poured out His soul unto death: and He was numbered with the transgressors; and He bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
John 1:29 "The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith. Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."
"Behold the Lamb of God!"
Here He is, the Lamb in His Person.
As the Good Shepherd, He emphasizes His deity.
He is the God man and He alone is worthy and able to save us.
The Lord Jesus Christ has a three fold relationship with His flock - the church.
1) He is the Good Shepherd.
The Good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep.
John 10:11 "I am the Good Shepherd: the Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep."
2) He is the Great Shepherd.
Hebrews 13:20-21 "Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that Great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen."
Today He is also the Great Shepherd of the sheep as seen in
Psalm 23 "The Lord is MY Shepherd, I shall not want."
The Lord's my Shepherd, I'll not want. He makes me lie in pastures green.
He leads me by the still, still waters, His goodness restores my soul.
And I will trust in You alone. And I will trust in You alone,
For Your endless mercy follows me, YOUR GOODNESS WILL LEAD ME HOME.
He guides my ways in righteousness, And He anoints my head with oil,
And my cup, it overflows with joy, I feast on His pure delight.
And I will trust in You alone. and I will trust in You alone,
For Your endless mercy follows me, YOUR GOODNESS WILL LEAD ME HOME.
And though I walk the darkest path, I will not fear the evil one,
For you are with me, And Your rod and staff, are the comfort I need to know.
and I will trust in You alone. And I will trust in You alone,
For Your endless mercy follows me, YOUR GOODNESS WILL LEAD ME HOME.
3) He is the Chief Shepherd.
This speaks about the future, the apostle Peter says,
1 Peter 5:4 "When the Chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away."
John 10:11-13 "I am the Good Shepherd: THE GOOD SHEPHERD GIVETH HIS LIFE FOR THE SHEEP.
But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep."
The hireling does not care for the sheep.
Founders of some the great world religions have not done much for their followers, and modern day cult leaders all get rich from their followers,
BUT IN CONTRAST TO THIS, THE GOOD SHEPHERD, GIVES HIS LIFE FOR HIS FOLLOWERS, AND HE ALSO PROTECTS HIS FOLLOWERS
John 10:14-15 "I am the Good Shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father; AND I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR THE SHEEP.
Oh my dear reader, to know Him is to love Him.
The most important thing in this whole world is to know Christ Jesus and to hear His voice. He gave His life for you, and for me.
John 10-16 "And other sheep I have, that are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one Shepherd."
There are other sheep which are not of this fold - the fold is Israel - others will also hear His voice.
You see there is to be one flock containing Jew and Gentile, rich and poor, bond and free, male and female, black and white, people from every nation, and out of every tongue and tribe.
This is the will of the Father.
The Lord Jesus made His soul an offering for sin, your sin and mine.
God the Father put on Him the sin of the world, and He went through hell for us, for you and me.
He gave His life willingly.
He set the time of His own death, the Jews said that it would not be on the feast day,
BUT HE WAS CRUCIFIED ON THE FEAST DAY.
He was never more kingly than when He went to the cross.
When we read the Gospels carefully we see that the Roman government, the nation Israel and you and I were the ones who were actually on trial.
The Lord Jesus died willingly.
Hebrews 12:2 "....who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame ... ..."
No man had the power to take His life from Him.
He claimed the power to lay down His own life and to take it up again.
Who are the sheep?
THOSE WHO HEAR HIS VOICE AND FOLLOW HIM.
When He comes to the sheepfold in the morning, His sheep are all mixed up with everyone else’s sheep - there is no brand or marking on the sheep.
How does He get the sheep that are His?
He calls them by name.
The sheep don’t have to be identified; they know their shepherd’s voice.
When he starts out over the hill, his own sheep come out of the fold and follow him.
They know him.
The Lord Jesus says,
"The sheep will follow Him because they know His voice."
It is the most wonderful thing in the world to know that, when we give out the Word of God, Jesus is calling His sheep.
The Spirit of God is the Porter who opens the ears and His sheep hear His voice and they follow Him.
You cannot permanently fool God’s sheep.
It is true that the sheep may get into a cult or an "ism" for a while, but His sheep will recognize His voice calling them out of what ever they have gotten into.
Unfortunately, many preachers are afraid to stand up for the truth; however, when a man preaches the Word of God, the sheep will hear it.
We can depend on that because our Lord said,
John 10: 27 "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me."
For a long time I used to worry about the people who will not listen to the message.
I have reached the point where I no longer worry about them because the reason they do not hear His voice is, they are not His sheep.
Wherever we find people who are eager to hear the Word of God, we know they are His sheep.
Have you made a decision to hear the loving voice of the Good Shepherd?
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Softly and tenderly Jesus is CALLING,
CALLING for you and for me.
Patiently Jesus is WAITING and WATCHING,
WATCHING for you and for me
Chorus.
Come home,.....Come home,
Ye who are weary come home;....
Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is CALLING,
Calling O sinner, COME HOME.
Why should we tarry when Jesus is PLEADING,
PLEADING for you and for me?
Why should we linger and HEED NOT HIS MERCIES,
Mercies for you and for me.
Time is now fleeting, the moments are passing,
Passing for you and for me;
Shadows are gathering, DEATH BEDS ARE COMING,
Coming for you and for me.
Oh for the wonderful love He has promised,
Promised for you and for me;
Tho' WE HAVE SINNED, He has mercy and pardon,
PARDON FOR YOU AND FOR ME.
AMEN!
Reply to Caryl@cherith.co.za.
THIS PAGE UPDATED: 25-6-2007.